Fortifying Vehicular Security through Low Overhead Physically Unclonable Functions

Within vehicles, the Controller Area Network (CAN) allows efficient communication between the electronic control units (ECUs) responsible for controlling the various subsystems. The CAN protocol was not designed to include much support for secure communication. The fact that so many critical systems can be accessed through an insecure communication network presents a major security concern. Adding security features to CAN is difficult due to the limited resources available to the individual ECUs and the costs that would be associated with adding the necessary hardware to support any additional security operations without overly degrading the performance of standard communication. Replacing the protocol is another option, but it is subject to many of the same problems. The lack of security becomes even more concerning as vehicles continue to adopt smart features. Smart vehicles have a multitude of communication interfaces an attacker could exploit to gain access to the networks. In this work, we propose a security framework that is based on physically unclonable functions (PUFs) and lightweight cryptography (LWC). The framework does not require any modification to the standard CAN protocol while also minimizing the amount of additional message overhead required for its operation. The improvements in our proposed framework result in major reduction in the number of CAN frames that must be sent during operation. For a system with 20 ECUs, for example, our proposed framework only requires 6.5% of the number of CAN frames that is required by the existing approach to successfully authenticate every ECU.

An Explainable AI-based Intrusion Detection System for DNS over HTTPS (DoH) Attacks

Over the past few years, Domain Name Service (DNS) remained a prime target for hackers as it enables them to gain first entry into networks and gain access to data for exfiltration. Although the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol has desirable properties for internet users such as privacy and security, it also causes a problem in that network administrators are prevented from detecting suspicious network traffic generated by malware and malicious tools. To support their efforts in maintaining a secure network, in this paper, we have implemented an explainable AI solution using a novel machine learning framework. We have used the publicly available CIRA-CIC-DoHBrw-2020 dataset for developing an accurate solution to detect and classify the DNS over HTTPS attacks. Our proposed balanced and stacked Random Forest achieved very high precision (99.91\%), recall (99.92\%) and F1 score (99.91\%) for the classification task at hand. Using explainable AI methods, we have additionally highlighted the underlying feature contributions in an attempt to provide transparent and explainable results from the model.

An Explainable AI-based Intrusion Detection System for DNS over HTTPS (DoH) Attacks

Over the past few years, Domain Name Service (DNS) remained a prime target for hackers as it enables them to gain first entry into networks and gain access to data for exfiltration. Although the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol has desirable properties for internet users such as privacy and security, it also causes a problem in that network administrators are prevented from detecting suspicious network traffic generated by malware and malicious tools. To support their efforts in maintaining a secure network, in this paper, we have implemented an explainable AI solution using a novel machine learning framework. We have used the publicly available CIRA-CIC-DoHBrw-2020 dataset for developing an accurate solution to detect and classify the DNS over HTTPS attacks. Our proposed balanced and stacked Random Forest achieved very high precision (99.91\%), recall (99.92\%) and F1 score (99.91\%) for the classification task at hand. Using explainable AI methods, we have additionally highlighted the underlying feature contributions in an attempt to provide transparent and explainable results from the model.

Stumbling into a Larger World

Yuan-tsung reunited with Phyllis Wu at her salon in Chongqing and started to learn social skills by helping her entertain guests. In this way, Yuan-tsung came into close social contact with some of the country’s leading politicians and intellectuals, getting to know them not so much in their official capacities as in more informal settings, when they relaxed over tea or wine. Among them was Zhou Enlai, then the Communist representative to China’s “United Front,” the tense, shaky arrangement whereby the Communists and the Nationalists supposedly worked together to defeat the Japanese invaders. At parties and dinners she heard them talk about the role of the Third Force, and “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, and watched as Zhou Enlai cultivated these US-educated intellectuals so as to gain access to influential Americans.

Using guanxi to conduct elite interviews in China

Drawing on two research projects in China, this article provides three contributions to the literature on elite interviews. First, we demonstrate how guanxi (informal, particularistic and personal connections) can help gain access and build trust with elite Chinese interviewees in a dynamic rather than a static manner. Second, we show the relational and ongoing process of elite interviewing, combining the sensemaking and sensegiving efforts of the interviewer and interviewee. We introduce the concept of sense-becoming to describe how researchers can develop a sense of strategy for future interviews. Third, we highlight the value of guanxi and co-positionality for the interviewer and interviewee to enhance interaction during interviews. We conclude by providing a heuristic for conceptualising the salience of guanxi and sensemaking for elite interviews in China.

Microbial Pathogenesis

For a pathogenic microbe to cause disease in a susceptible host, it must gain access to that host first. The pathogenicity of a microbe is determined by the virulence factors alongside other innate mechanisms. Apart from the initiation of infection, these virulence factors also enable the pathogenic microorganism to survive in the new environment within the susceptible host. They also enable the pathogenic microorganism to invade the host, colonize, and evade the host defense mechanisms. These virulence factors include; invasins, capsules, siderophores, adhesins, enzymes, endotoxins, and exotoxins. Key words: Pathogenicity factors and Pathological effect on cells.

Assessment of Smart Home Assistants as an IoT

A smart home personal assistant technology is an intrinsic system, which incorporates many elements such as users, Smart Home Personal Assistants (SPA) devices, cloud, skill provider and other responsive devices. Even though Smart Home Personal Assistants give a robust security and privacy options, the devices face many weaknesses, which make the system vulnerable and can be comprised by adversaries, who can capitalize on limitations to gain access to delicate information and privacy of users. In this research, the aim is to assess how invention and innovation of security and SPA can be harnessed by users to interrelate with the system. Subsequently, this write-up will address both the problems related to the system and attempt to bring in solutions, which makes the technology more adaptable and versatile to all users. Initial studies show that some of the weakness underlying the technology include the open-nature of the voice channel, complexity of the architecture, software implications, and the utility of the technology to less proficient users. As a result, the study anticipates at solving the voice squatting attack, using the SPA intelligent assistant, incorporating a filer to filter the ultrasonic attack and noise as well as trying to assess the efficacy of the elements developed against the voice squatting attacks. The study found out that there is a need to mitigate the attacks on the blockchain technology and Natural Language Processors (NLP) to assure protection of SPA from attacks.

Evolution and perspectives of Spanish in Russian school system

The article examines from various points of view the role of the Spanish language in the Russian system of primary and secondary education, both public and private, paying special attention to the experience of schools participating in the Bilingual Sections program of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Training. The article compares Spanish with other foreign languages in the Russian school system, and considers its evolution in the timeline and the impact on its status of migration movements in connection with political events, commercial and student exchange, tourism; as well as the impact of certain measures taken both in Russia and in Spain. Institutions in both countries have established links to promote mutual development in terms of learning Spanish and Russian, and the diplomatic corps has become the catalyst and manager of this dynamic. Despite the fact that the reactions of educational actors (institutions, civil society, students and teachers) are varied, they reinforce different mechanisms to gain access to Spanish culture and business, as well as to other Spanish-speaking countries. The article also demonstrates the current statistics and describes the trend that the teaching of Spanish may follow in the coming years due to positioning of Spanish among the main foreign languages studied in Russian schools.

Extending the Quality of Secure Service Model to Multi-Hop Networks

Rarely are communications networks point-to-point. In most cases, transceiver relay stations exist between transmitter and receiver end-points. These relay stations, while essential for controlling cost and adding flexibility to network architectures, reduce the overall security of the respective network. In an effort to quantify that reduction, we extend the Quality of Secure Service (QoSS) model to these complex networks, specifically multi-hop networks. In this approach, the quantification of security is based upon probabilities that adversarial listeners and disruptors gain access to or manipulate transmitted data on one or more of these multi-hop channels. Message fragmentation and duplication across available channels provides a security performance trade-space, with its consequent QoSS. This work explores that trade-space and the corresponding QoSS model to describe it.

Inside, Outside, Upside Down: Power, Positionality, and Limits of Ethnic Identity in the Ethnographies of the Far-Right

Methodological literature on ethnographies of the far-right has largely centered around the ethical and political implications of such studies. Discussions on researcher’s positionality with regard to his/her insider–outsider positioning, ethnic-racial characteristics and concomitant power relations in the field remain relatively undertheorized. What occurs, for example, when the researcher studying anti-minority, ethnic nationalist right-wing groups is from a minority ethnic community? To what extent s(he) can gain access and develop rapport with the respondents? In this article, I seek to answer these questions by providing insights from my fieldwork experiences. I reflect upon my own position as a non-White, minority ethnic, and female ethnographer who conducted extensive fieldwork among grassroot activists of “Alternative für Deutschland,” a German right-wing political party. The article demonstrates that even in face of an apparent noncongruence between an immigrant ethnographer and right-wing, pro-majority respondents, researcher’s position is not static but fluid, intersectional and deeply situational. Ethnographer’s long term sustained proximity to the respondents, exposure to the everyday contexts of their lives create zones of congruence for an apparent outsider and can at times undermine the dominant category of ethnicity as primary social signifier.